Asian Representation in the Spider-Verse
An exploration of Asian representation in the heroic characters of Marvel's Spider-Verse.
Introduction
One of the greatest things about Spider-Man is his global appeal. Peter Parker is simply an incredibly relatable character. In a 2015 interview with Larry King, Stan Lee (the co-creator of Spider-Man) spoke about one of the global appeals of the character.
You know one of the greatest things about Spider-Man's outfit; his costume? He is completely covered, so any kid could imagine [that they're] Spider-Man because no colour of the skin shows. He could be black under that. He could be red. He could be yellow. He could belong to any race. That wasn't done purposely. It was done accidentally, but I think it was the best thing he did - making it so he could be anybody under that costume.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Spider-Man fan. A lot of my formative childhood memories involve this hero. From monthly visits to Silver Snail with my dad to pick up new issues to walking the halls of Toronto Comic Con and Fan Expo with my mom and brother, Spidey has always been a part of my life in some form. As with all fans, I took a bit of a break from reading the comics (wasn’t a fan of the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man Dying Wish storyline) and later returned after the conclusion of the 2014 Spider-Verse story arc. After seeing Karan Soni’s depiction of Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, I felt compelled to dive back into the history of Asian spider-characters.
Spider-Man/Supaidāman (Takuya Yamashiro)
I didn’t know about the Japanese Spider-Man (1978) TV series until fairly recently. Produced by Toei Company, this was a Tokusatsu series (Japanese live-action entertainment that make heavy use of practical special effects) loosely based on the Marvel character. While there are similarities in their costume, this version of Spider-Man (Takuya Yamashiro) has a very different origin story (a spider bracelet gifted to him by a dying alien), powers, and even pilots a giant mecha known as Leopardon, which he would summon to combat giant extraterrestrial monsters.
Supaidāman is incredible. You can watch all 41 episode of this series on the Internet Archive for free!
For comic readers, this Spider-Man (Earth-51778) first appears in the pages of Dan Slott’s Spider-Verse crossover event (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3, #12) as nearly every variant of Spider-Man wage a brutal war against Morlun and his family of dimension hopping totem hunters, the Inheritors.
Spider-Man (Yu Komori)
As I revisited my love of manga, I discovered the story of Yu Komori, the Spider-Man of Earth-70019, in Spider-Man: The Manga (1997) when visiting a local comic book shop. Yu has a similar origin story and set of powers when compared to the primary (Peter Parker of Earth-616) Spider-Man, but instead of starting his journey in high school, Yu is a middle school student when he is bitten by a radioactive spider.
Yu is mention in Spider-Verse Vol. 1, #2 in a conversation between Spideys.
Pavitr Prabhakar
Karan Soni had some of the best lines of dialogue as Pavitr Prabhakar (Spider-Man of Earth-50101) in Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. First appearing in Spider-Man: India Vol 1. #1 (2004), the story of Pavitr is one I deeply regret not reading when it came out! He even has his own reboot series that was recently published!
Silk (Cindy Moon)
First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3. #1 (2014) as Cindy Moon and #4 as Silk, this character originates from Earth-616 like the “prime” Peter Parker Spider-Man. Having been bitten by the exact same spider as Peter, Cindy is extremely important to the Web of Life and Destiny in the Spider-Verse storyline. She is the only Korean American spidey!
SP//dr (Peni Parker)
Pilot of the SP//dr mech suit, Peni Parker of Earth-14512 first appeared in Edge of Spider-Verse Vol 1. #5 (2014). If you’re a fan of Pacific Rim and Mobile Suit Gundam, you’ll LOVE her story. Peni’s version of the symbiote Venom is another mech called “VEN#m” and the living vampire Morbius is a kaiju called M.O.R.B.I.U.S!
The Spider-Man (Aaron Aikman)
A spider character named Aaron Aikman (of Earth-31411) first appeared in Edge of the Spider-Verse #3 (2014). While I can’t confirm that they are canonically Asian, the creator of this character (Dustin Weaver) wrote that the inspirations for the character’s design were John Lennon of the Beatles and Yosuke Mikura from Barbara by Osamu Tezuka.
Spider-Man (Yu Onomae) and Silk (Cindy Moon…again)
I saw a copy of the Spider-Man: Fake Red (2019) manga when I was at a local comic shop and was instantly curious about the concept. Interestingly, Yu is not the “true” Spider-Man of his world (of Earth-TRN854) as there is also a Peter Parker. Yu doesn’t have super powers and his story instead revolves around him idolizing Spider-Man and the trouble he finds himself in when he wears a real spider-suit that he finds in a dumpster. It’s an interesting concept that I’m keen on reading!
This earth also has a version of Silk, who is also named Cindy Moon!
How many of these Asian Spider-Verse characters did you know?
One of my friends is obsessed with Supaidāman. It's the perfect blend of Spider-Man meets Power Rangers meets late-70s camp. There's nothing quite like it. A fun read! Thank you for sharing your exploration. I didn't know a lot of these.